Singer, Actress, Storyteller to Present "Stories with a Twist"

3/25/2014

Meet talking skunks, hunt for bears, yodel in the Alps, slurp lollipops, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, squish-squash through some mud, and listen to a wild variety of characters read a well-known tale in six area locations beginning April 4.

The Massanutten Regional Library system and LD&B Insurance and Financial Services will sponsor “Stories with a Twist,” a family event and action-packed program for kids of all ages. “Stories with a Twist” features singer, actress, and storyteller Barbara Spilman Lawson.

Lawson’s musical storytelling programs are high-energy, exciting and fun. Lawson, a former elementary school teacher, also writes educational materials and children’s books. Lawson is a regular performer at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville and has performed leading and supporting roles in over 50 musical theater productions with the Waynesboro Players, Oak Grove Theatre, and ShenanArts. Lawson also acted in the PBS television special, Rhymes and Reasons.

Lawson’s programs encourage children to listen intently, participate and follow directions, think and feel, visualize characters, settings and plot, interpret new vocabulary words, and become totally immersed in the program. Children love to listen to the crazy, silly stories and songs which encourage them to have fun with language and literacy.

“I have seen Barbara Lawson perform many times over the years and her hilarious, energetic program never fails to make me laugh. Don’t miss this opportunity to see, hear and meet this incredible area talent,” says MRL Youth Services Coordinator Claire Covington.

Lawson begins her shows in the Massanutten Regional Library service area at Village Library, Broadway, Friday, April 4, 4 PM. She travels to Page Public Library Saturday, April 5, 10 AM, for her second performance, and then ventures to the Main Library that Saturday, April 5, 2 PM.

Lawson continues her storytelling adventures at Grottoes Branch Library Thursday, April 10, 4 PM. North River Library, Bridgewater, hosts the Augusta County resident Saturday, April 12, 10 AM, and Elkton Community Library will host the entertainer at its special venue, the Elkton Community Center, Saturday, April 12, 2 PM.